1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to shipping and display assemblies for off-shelf displaying of products in retail stores. More particularly, the invention relates to assemblies which utilize the shipping box as part of the display assembly. Specifically, the invention relates to a shipping and display assembly that utilizes the lower half of a shipping box to form a first compartment to support elongated retail products, such as wrapping paper, and that includes a second compartment having a plurality of partially enclosed shelves to display complementary retail products such as adhesive tape dispensers.
2. Background Information
The typical retail store groups related products on shelves or on hanger rods mounted on walls or other upright structures. The shelves typically hold boxed products and other items which are readily supported on the flat upper surface of the shelves. The depth of most shelves is limited so that elongated products do not conveniently fit thereon and must therefore be positioned parallel to the isle. This takes up an unacceptably wide shelf area in most stores. Furthermore, in the case of products such as wrapping paper, the product is typically wrapped around a cylindrical core and there is therefore a likelihood that the product will roll off the shelf and onto the floor. Hanger rods are typically used to display products such as those packaged in lightweight cardboard or plastic and which include hang-tags for hanging them from the hanger rods. Packaged products which are too small to place on shelves or which may be seasonal in nature are frequently hung from elongated clip strips. These are lightweight flexible plastic strips that are about one inch wide and between twenty and forty inches in length. Clip strips are typically die-cut to produce a plurality of upwardly extending single flaps disposed lengthwise along the strip. Each single flap is flanked by a pair of downwardly extending flaps to form a flap group to retain the product. The products are mounted to the clip strip by positioning the upper end of a cardboard backing sheet under the pair of flaps and inserting the single flap through the hanging hole of the backing sheet to support the product. The flap group retains the backing sheet on the clip strip yet allows the product to be easily removed from the clip strip by pulling the product away from the strip to deflect the flaps. The top of the clip strips typically include a hole to wire them to shelf supports and product displays in locations around the store. The clip strips therefore allow for the display of complementary products without requiring shelf space to be utilized for smaller or awkwardly packaged products adjacent the primary products.
There are, however, a number of drawbacks to using clip strips. Firstly, attachment of products to the clip strips is labor-intensive, requiring each individual product to be manually mounted to the flaps of the clip strips at the retail store. If the products come pre-mounted to the clip strips from the manufacturer of the product, the products often disengage from the flaps during transport to the retailer. The retailer must then manually reattach the products to the clip strips. This at least partially defeats the purpose of having the products sent to the store pre-attached. Secondly, only a limited number of products may be displayed on a clip strip depending on the number of flaps present, this being typically between about ten and thirty flap groups. Thirdly, when consumers remove the products from the clip strips it is easy to inadvertently disengage other products from the strip at the same time. Fourthly, once the flap group has been used to retain and dispense the product, the flaps tend to become weakened and deformed due to the bending involved in engaging and disengaging the products. Therefore, if the product is reattached, as is the case when the consumer decides against purchasing the product, or when the retailer desires to add additional products to the clip strip, the products may inadvertently fall of the strip because the flap groups cannot adequately support them. Finally, products displayed on clip strips typically look aesthetically unappealing because they tend to hang at various angles from the clip strips rather than neatly aligned with each other. As a result of these disadvantages of clip strips, many retailers are avoiding using clip strips for displays and many chain retailers are banning the use of clip strips in their stores.
Seasonal products, such as Christmas wrapping, are typically shipped to retailers in corrugated cardboard boxes. The wrapping paper is frequently displayed in a vertical position within the original shipping box with the top half of the box cut off to expose the rolls of wrapping paper. It is desirable to display the adhesive tape close to the wrapping paper so that the consumer is drawn to purchase the complementary products at the same time. Adhesive tape is typically packaged with a single roll of tape affixed to a backing sheet or with several rolls of tape or tape dispensers packaged in a small cardboard box that may be stood on a shelf or hung from a hung tag. However, the size of single rolls of adhesive tape and the multi-roll packages of tape are small and awkwardly packaged and this makes them difficult to stack easily and neatly on shelves. The adhesive tape dispensers on shelves tend to fall over, will not stay in straight rows and may fall onto the floor. Occupying valuable shelf space with such products is not cost-efficient and the displays tend to look untidy. Retailers therefore tend to hang the single rolls or boxed rolls from hanger rods positioned near the wrapping paper, or may hang the products on clip strips that are disposed near the wrapping paper display. The hanger rods need to be suspended from metal shelving and consequently this limits the retailers' ability to display the adhesive tape in the immediate vicinity of the wrapping paper displays. As mentioned previously, clip strip type displays tend to be untidy, labor intensive and not reusable. Some retailers have consequently resorted to simply providing a large bin near the wrapping paper displays into which they place hundreds of individual rolls of tape, single tape dispensers or packages of multiple rolls of tape or tape dispensers. These bins allow the retailer to position the complementary product close to the free-standing wrapping paper boxes. The bins also allow the consumer to change their mind and replace the product if they decide not to purchase it without having to expend time and energy to do so. The disadvantages of the bins, however, are that the take up valuable floor space, making the display area feel cramped, and the bins also tend to give the retail store an untidy appearance.
There is therefore still a need in the art for a shipping and display assembly which allows retailers to display complementary secondary products in the immediate vicinity of displays of primary products, while keeping the products neatly displayed and easily accessible to the consumer.